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Abortion rights advocates fill the rotunda of the State Capitol as the Senate nears the vote on Friday night, July 12, 2013. Texas senators were wrapping up debate on sweeping abortion restrictions Friday night and were poised to vote on a measure after weeks of protests.
(Tamir Kalifa | The Associated Press)

Texas Capitol police confiscated all sorts of items from protesters attempting to enter the Senate gallery on Friday, including jars suspected of containing urine, feces and paint.

But it was the decision to confiscate feminine hygiene products like tampons and maxi pads that caused a real storm on social media.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Department of Public Safety officers began confiscating the items after reports spread that protesters of Texas' proposed 20-week abortion bill were planning to throw things onto the senate floor.

While women were asked to hand over their tampons, people holding handguns with concealed carry permits were expedited through the checkpoint.

Twitter users responded with hashtags like #TamponGate and #tamponcalypse:

One woman told Huffington Post that she was treated aggressively by officers, and humiliated.

Paula Chaney of Georgetown, Texas, said an officer took the food she needs to deal with diabetes, then held up her purple wrapped maxi pads and started waving them around and yelling.

Chaney reported this to the supervising officer who yelled at her an marched her to the elevator, after which she left without her maxi pads.

"I am a middle-aged white woman, and not used to being treated this way by law enforcement, certainly not the DPS troopers in the Capitol," Chaney said. "A whole lot of people are trying to shut us up. This was just way over the line."

Police have since stopped confiscating tampons and maxi pads at the insistence of Democratic Sen. Kirk Watson.

The scene has been tense at the capitol all summer, where Texas' 20-week abortion legislation drew national attention after Democratic state Senator Wendy Davis held an 11-hour filibuster against the bill in June.

The Texas legislature passed the new ban late on Friday by a 19 to 11 vote in a public chamber with protesters yelling, chanting and singing outside, Reuters reported. This makes Texas the 13th state to pass a 20-week ban, over research suggesting fetuses may feel pain at that point in the pregnancy.

The bill now awaits the likely signature of Gov. Rick Perry, and Democrats have already vowed to challenge the law in court.

"There will be a lawsuit. I promise you," Dallas Sen. Royce West said on the Senate floor.

USA Today reported Democrats offered 20 amendments to the bill, including exceptions for rape and incest and allowing doctors more leeway in prescribing abortion-inducing drugs. Republicans turned them all down.

Cecile Richards, the daughter of former Gov. Anne Richards and president of Planned Parenthood thinks this vote will work against anti-abortion advocates in the future:

All they have done is built a committed group of people across this state who are outraged about the treatment of women and the lengths to which this Legislature will go to take women's health care away.

What is your opinion on the confiscation of these items by the Texas DPS officers? Let us know in the comments section below.

Protesters also took to Instagram to rally against the feminine hygiene product confiscation:

#Women fighting for their #lives #Texas #TX #TXLEGE #tampongate #RickPerry hates women #USA #AmericanTaliban alive well in #Texas #righttolife really means #righttobirth After that they starve you poison you imprison you